A coin sold and bought back - A Short Story of Coming Back Home

I'm sure many of you were in a situation where you had to raise money, in my case to make a down payment for the house, using some coins or other assets to help raise the funds. In the case of my collection, I was also able to use it to qualify for the mortgage. I guess the requirements back in the early 90's were more flexible than they are these days.

So, I had to part with a good portion of my collection, both ancient and modern. Fortunately I was able to sell them as a large lot (actually a couple of double row boxes) to my local coin dealer, who gave me a shoe box of cash, no check, totaling $25,000. Between this money and my wife's contribution we were able to secure the loan, albeit an adjustable loan which we later converted to a conventional load a few years later.

I regretted selling some of the coins, many of which were quite rare. So, over a period of several years I went back to the coin shop and purchased back some of the coins remaining. This is one of them.

While quite common, this coin, a follis of Maximianus (286-310 AD), from Siscia, is a nice example, primarily because it retains a good portion of the original silvering. This strike is decent, especially on the obverse.

Roman Empire, 286-310 AD
AE Follis
Maximianus
Obverse: Laureate head of Maximianus righ, IMP C M A MAXIMIANVS P F AVG.
Reverse: Genius standing left, naked but with chlamys over left shoulder, modius on head, holding a patera in right hand from which liquor flows, and a cornucopiae in left hand. Mintmark in exergue. Officina mark in right field, GENIO POPVLI ROMANI.
10.6 grams
28 mm, 6 h.



Does anyone else have coins that they sold and then bought back later?

Thanks

 

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You are fortunate. When I sold off due to perceived poverty in 1974, I never saw any of the coins again. I really would like even one of them. This was before I started taking photos of ever coin so all I have now are foil pressings of these sestertii.
Didius Julianus (I paid 50 cents for this one)


Balbinus

Caligula

Pupienus

 

@dougsmit that is a shame that you had to part with those coins. But I have to say, those foil pressings are really interesting! I've never seen anything like that before. How do you keep them from getting squished and deformed?

 

kool story & coin jojo....i'm looking at Maximinus coins at the present for 3rd century emperors
;0...o wow @dougsmit ....those coins are grails to be sure...

 

Yes, circumstances force us to do things that we regret, but with time we recover, and, in collecting, improve on what we acquire through experience and insight.

 

@dougsmit I love your pressings!!!

 

Nice foil impressions and better than plaster casts, which I used to make of some of the coins in my first collection which I sold. Of those (back in the 90's) I have never seen a sign. So I don't know who ultimately bought them from the numismatist I sold them to. I recently received an email from CNG saying they are now buying collections so I suppose I could sell my collection from recent years pretty easily, but I have no plans to part with them.

 

Thanks, Robinjojo, for this 'reality check.' How many of us have been here?
Coin collecting is a little like relationships. --No! Hear me out, before you throw anything too ripe. Some element of regret ends up being integral to the process.

 

Mine hasn't been worth enough to sell...

 

Yes, the process is the path that our lives take, and all that has happened leads us to the present. I guess it is almost a Buddhist view that the past and the present are one in the same.

While coins come and go, they do contribute to our knowledge, and, as inquisitive beings, lead us to other realms.

 

...More than once, I've had occasion to go hunting for examples of the same type as whatever, to resort to euphemism, had to be put down. Best I ever did; and it was essentially the luck of the draw whether the net result was an upgrade or a downgrade.

 

It's amazing that you're able to hold three-dimensional visual records of the coins you've long since parted with, and that you've been able to preserve them for so long.

I'd like to try this method. Do you have a recommendation for a best type or thickness of foil to use?

 

They spent 50+ years in a cigar box. Most are squished. In the day, we would dribble Elmer's Glue in the back and let it harden into a more solid thing. I still have a card with several foil coins sent to me by a Severan collector way back then and they are good as new. This was before phones were cordless. If you suggested that a phone should have a camera, they would have sent you a a facility for the mentally infirm.

 

Life is full of dos and don'ts the temporary loss did not outweigh the gain, family first! Material items almost always can be replaced. Great decision sad but temporary loss... Be safe

 

I think the objects that we have or had also serve as reminders of days gone by. I certainly associate certain coins that I picked up at coin shows with the settings - the people coming and going, the exchange of stories and the swapping of information on particular coins, and just generally hanging out, not concerned about time at all. But I think the association is primarily with the collectors and dealers of past shows and coin shop visits that I remember the most.

Doug mentions 1974, a truly awful year. The country was in the midst of a major recession. I graduated from college that year with a degree that guaranteed instant unemployment. I was able to work at Ford that summer, but after that I spent a couple of years just drifting, before going to graduate school in DC.

Here's one more "buy back" coin. This is the first Parthinian coin, of Vologases IV, that I ever owned. It came to me quite encrusted, so it was an early cleaning project. The surfaces are a little rough in spots.

I am not too sure about the coin's date. Can anyone decipher the reverse date on this coin? Thanks

Parthia, 147-191 AD
BI Tetradrachm
Vologases IV
Seleucia
Obverse: Diademed bust left, wearing a tiara, B to the right
Reverse: Tyche standing right, holding scepter, presenting diadem to king, seated facing left, date above the diadem, month below (illegible).
11.9 grams
25 mm, 6 h.

 

I think I have the year for this coin, 498 = 186 AD.

 

Using all the imagination I can muster, I believe your coin shows the HQ which is the 98. The 400 (Y) is given so I agree with your 498. Mine is 464 (November).

 

That's a very nice example, with a legible month as well.

The "Y" on my coin's year is there, but rather blurry

 

This coin was one of my first few ancients. I sold it for a good price to a friend at my ancient coin club, but after a summer, I felt my heart yearn for it again. He didn't want the cash back but said to find a coin I thought he would like and he'd trade it back. I did that and have had it in my collection since. There's just something about it's size and patina--even the nick on GIII's face--that makes it a piece to be treasured.


Gordian III, Ruled 238-244 AD
AE32 Sestertius, Moesia, Viminacium
Struck 241/242 AD (RY 3)
Obverse: IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
Reverse: PMS C-OL VIM, Moesia standing facing, head left, extending hands to bull and lion standing at feet on either side, AN III in exergue (RY 3 = 241/242 AD).
References: SNG Cop 142, BMC 9
Size: 32mm, 18.9g

 

Those foil pressings are so interesting. A lost art no doubt.

It’s unreal to think that a Didius Julianus sestertius was 50cents at one time, taking inflation into account that was one amazing deal.